Scrapped legislation
Unions in scramble for rights

By Lisa Wong
     Four activists carrying a petition with 5,000 signatures recently were evicted by security guards from a meeting at the Legislative Council Building.
     They were protesting because two labour laws were scrapped. One would have permitted collective bargaining, and the other would have prevented union members from being discriminated against.
     “The rich and powerful are using their political privileges granted by the Chinese government to suppress the workers and serve their own benefits,” said Leung Kwok-hung of the April 5th Action Group.

     Lisa Wong
     Mr. Lee: It was illegal for the Government to scrap the bills.
     Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan, general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, said the anti-union discrimination law he proposed is different from the existing one.
     “The existing law only states that union members can be compensated afterwards if they’re fired because they’re the members of a union. But what employees need is to get back their jobs, not only compensation. Mere compensation is meaningless.
     “Resumption of duty is the most effective way to protect the workers from discrimination and encourage them to take part in trade union activities.”
     Mr. Lee also pointed out that the harmonious employer-employee relations they are seeking are different from what the employers’ perceptions.
     He said, “To the employers, harmony is the silence of the employees. No strikes, no demands, no rebellions and no negotiations. But the harmony we’re seeking is the equality between employers and employees.
     “What we want is a peaceful and equal negotiation towards cooperation.
     “In 1995, economists for the International Monetary Fund reported that collective bargaining can help to balance the relationship between employers and employees when the economic environment is extremely competitive.”
     However, some Liberal Party members do not support the above arguments.
     Party legislator Tien Pei-chun was quoted in South China Morning Post as saying the two labour laws would have affected smooth business operations, especially small- and medium-sized companies, because employers would not have been able to fire bad employees if they belong to unions.
     Mr. Lee said however that it is short-sighted to increase competitiveness by exploiting the workers.
     “This has many serious drawbacks,” he said.
     “First, the consuming power of employees will be weakened because of lowered wages, which may directly and negatively affect consumption.
     “Second, the decision will have adverse impact on the morale of the employees, which means a decrease in productivity, which finally leads to a decrease in the competitive power.
     “Third, when workers are not given the proper and equal ways to bargain with employers, they will finally turn to some negative methods to fight against inequality,” said Mr. Lee.
     Mr. Lee said that the decision to scrap the legislation was an illegal act.
     He said, “The SAR (Special Administrative Region) government has the obligation to carry out responsibilities under the International Labour Conventions. What the Government is doing is definitely against the Conventions.
     “Our confederation has sent out complaints against the decision to the International Labour Organisation.
     “Though it is very difficult to fight for the basic rights of the workers without the laws, we still have to go for it, as this is our obligation,” said Mr. Lee.
     Mr. Leung agreed. “The whole decision is not by chance; it’s a planned challenge to the public. The public has to do something to keep away the threat from the politically privileged.”



 Beware!       No free lunch




January 1998

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